Pulau 'Paradise' Pangkil

So as a thank-you to all the office staff for the efforts put in to-date, Nick (Creative Director/Owner) decided that we should go away to a private island in Indonesia as a group!
Now who am I to say No Thanks, thats not needed!

The island is called Pulau Pangkil Kecil and is located south of Bintan Island, south west of Singapore.

The trip to get there was pretty straightforward and it took about 3 hours all up. So at 9am a ferry from Tanah Merah ferry terminal from Singapore to Pasir Pinjang, the southern port of Bintan. From here, a coach ride to some remote location to catch a local Indonesian boat across to the island.

The effort to get there was well rewarded. A beautiful island in the middle of nowhere. over 12 private beaches, wonderful 'driftwood palaces', food drinks, snorkelling, kyacking, and the old school pasttime of chilling out.

It was just so relaxing and one of the best work related thank-you's I've ever had.
The work crew (and additional friends) were super cool. Was a perfect way to meet my new work colleuges away from work.
The food was magnificent. The Bintang's went down a treat, as did the late arvo scotches!!

We played scrabble, cards, bocce, and hung-out poolside...yep! A fresh water pool on the island too!
Here are a few photos.



Naz doing her mermaid thang!



The main house on the island...how cool is that!



Arriving...or leaving. One of the best 'hotel' lobbies I've ever seen!



Some of the crew enjoying sunset on one of the many beaches.



These amazing rocks on the northshore of the island. There are some rocks further inland that form a little grotto leading to the pool. I have some video that I'll stitch together and upload later.



There are a family of HUGE lizards living around the pool area. This is jnr taking a morning swim. My 'Driftwood Palace' overlooked the pool and was simplyy outstanding!!!! Can you tell I liked the island!



My palace...overlooking the pool. We spent quite a lot of the weekend hanging around here. Had laptop, itunes, and the 'house' speaker system...we rocked!!



Sunset....ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.



Nick & co just having a refresher.



Homeward bound...the instigator & all round great guy, Nick.



Get that beer into ya son! Slog aka MrLederhosen aka Mr Warner looking a little hesitant over that beer. Twas around 10am. Lightweight ;)



One of many statues around the island. Beautiful.

And last but not least. One of my favourite shots. Taken by MrLederhosen of Steve, a good friend of my work colleagues. I heavily touched it up in Photoshop - love my saturated colours...can ya tell?!



Now Nick....that conversation about next years trip...;)

Contribute 4

OK...So its been a topsy turvey kind of month. Been a bit ill, been flat out at work and all in all,  zero time to blog!

I've just in stalled a piece of software that I've used before (many times) called Contribute...only this new release supports direct blogging to Blogger and other blog services! So here we go!

I'll let you know how it works out, being the first post using Version 4 of the software, I'm gonna try out all the 'fruit'!!

Bye Bye Miss Scarlet

So as mentioned earlier, my Scarlet Hotel stay is well and truely over!! And not before time!

Dont get me wrong, the place is fabulous, but I'm SOOOO much happier now I have more than 4 walls and a bathroom to hang out in!!

I thought I'd better post a few photos from my stay at the hotel...just to close that chapter.

So here are some really great staff that I spent and still spend some time with.
Happy & Akbar (yes, her real name is Happy, how cool!!!...and she is pretty much always happy!)


And Farid & Arman. Awesome bunch of people and always had a smile and a kind word.




And I thought I'd better place a few photos of the room too. So here goes.

The Scarlet Hotel is a boutique low-rise hotel in China town. Its basically a row of shop houses that have been gutted and tarted up!
The really did a great job. Thsi photo shows the street, Erskine Road, and the hotel occupies the whole street across the whole second floor. Below the hotel is a row of shops, gift store, florist etc etc.

So there ya go! If you're ever in Singapore, go say hi to the guys at the bar, grab a Sinagpore sling and chill for an hour.

Time Goes By

WOW! Over a month since my last post...where did that month go?!
In that time, sooooo much has happened.
I went to Pulau Pangkil Kecil (private island!!) with my work colleagues and Mr Lederhosen (he just happened to be travelling through Singapore at the time...lucky bugger!!)

I FINALLY moved out of the hotel!! And into a renovated shop house in Little India. (I like it!)

The Eagles won the AFL Grand Final, I ducked across to Pulau Bintan to play 18 holes on the Jack Nicklaus designed Bintan Lagoon Resort...oh! and it was my Birthday!!!

So...I'll be adding details of all these events and more; just so u know whats going on up here.

Festival for the Hungry Ghost

One of the things I love about Asian culture is festival time. And there are quite a few festivals throughout the year!!! We're currently heading through the 'Hungry Ghost' festival. Have a read about it. Its quite interesting. Lots of pomp and ceremony.

Someone told me the other day that during the festival (which is predominantly for loved ones that have past) there are plays, and opera's and dinners, that are attended by no-one (except the participants). These shows are just put on for the past spirits! I think that's quite cool!!!!

Also, one tradition is to burn paper money, which symbolises you giving the money to your deceased relatives or friends (fake money, but a good gesture). I was also told that you can buy paper Mercedes, paper houses and even paper maids!!!!! Crazy, but true. Photo is the Hungry Ghost offering at Maxwell Food Centre.